


One Less Day

by Vagrant_Blvrd



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe- GTA V, Fake AH Crew, M/M, Pre-Fake AH Crew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:47:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24513334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vagrant_Blvrd/pseuds/Vagrant_Blvrd
Summary: The truth of the matter is that Ryan’s been a problem from the start.
Relationships: Ryan Haywood/Geoff Ramsey
Comments: 18
Kudos: 64





	One Less Day

**Author's Note:**

> [Because reasons.](https://vagrantblvrd.tumblr.com/post/619650701292896257/ur-feelings-on-ramwood-soulmateau)

The truth of the matter is that Ryan’s been a problem from the start.

Geoff had heard about him – of course he had – when he decided to take his plan to start a new crew to Los Santos. Was warned about him more than once, the big, bad bogeyman of Los Santos stalking the streets and every back alley like he owned them.

Put the fear of the Vagabond in everyone he met and yadda yadda yadda, big scary asshole.

Naturally Geoff wanted him on board.

Annoyed the hell out of Jack with it the way he went about it because they had the Roosters behind them on this every step of the way, sure, but it was up to Geoff to make sure things happened in Los Santos.

Jack was always a given, but he had to beg, borrow, and steal people from under Burnie and everyone else’s noses to get the best of the best.

Got Lindsay to help run their support team, people who’d be in charge of running things while Geoff and Jack and whatever else assholes they picked up took up the spotlight.

And that meant making a splash in Los Santos, stirring up trouble and getting everyone’s eyes on them, and how else better than to get the Vagabond on their side?

 _“No,”_ he’d said the first time Geoff tracked him down to some seedy little dive bar by the docks. _“Not interested.”_

Which of course just made Geoff that much more invested in getting the asshole on board with them, because of course it did.

But before any of that could happen Gavin arrived in Los Santos, smirk on his face and these godawful gold-framed sunglasses he’d picked up at the airport gift shop along with tacky souvenirs for Geoff and Jack.

Looked like the asshole he was and laughing about it all the way back to the penthouse Geoff had picked out for them.

Nice shiny place looking out over the city and perfect to gloat from once people realized they were a force to be reckoned with.

(Sure, Jack had a lot to say about it, mostly concerning security and all that but he’s always been a worrywart about that kind of thing.)

Still.

Gavin came out and got right to work, which might have been one of Geoff’s greatest mistakes because that meant Gavin coordinated with Lindsay, and - 

The less said about that period the better. (Parts of Los Santos still haven’t recovered.)

After Gavin came all the other assholes. Main player with Michael and Ray, and Lindsay filling the ranks of B-Team with other horrible bastards she liked the look of.

Even with all of that, Geoff didn’t forget about Ryan, the goddamned Vagabond, out there.

Went looking for him from time to time, in between crew business and keeping everyone from getting themselves killed on jobs or whatever heist one of them had planned.

Always found him in places that dive bar where they first met, which struck Geoff as odd since the man didn’t drink.

 _“People expect it,”_ he’d said the time Geoff asked about it. _“So here I am.”_

 _Asshole_.

After a while Geoff’s self-imposed mission of recruiting the fearsome Vagabond stopped being...that.

Turned into this thing where Geoff would track the asshole down just because.

Gavin getting distracted during a heist, attention where it shouldn’t have been a bullet in his side for his trouble. Michael being the kind of asshole Geoff loved and hated at the same time because Michael saw himself as a blunt-force weapon and acted like it, and sometimes he didn’t get back up afterwards.

That asshole Jack fooling everyone with his friendly little smile and amiable temperament until he dropped all pretense and goddamn him anyway.

Even Ray quietly added to the gray hairs Geoff started finding staring back at him in the bathroom mirror with the stunts he pulled, stupid and reckless as any of the others.

Jeremy, when he got pulled to the bigs. Seemed like a good kid at first and quickly proving he’s worse than all of them combined.

 _“Sounds like a nightmare,”_ Ryan had said, leaning back in his seat to regard Geoff when he complained to him about it. 

Geoff angry and tired at seeing them hurt, and tired of being angry because those goddamned _assholes_.

Ryan watching him and this thoughtful air to him.

“It is,” Geoff had said, and hadn’t that been an understatement. “It so fucking is.”

The hell of it was it was he had no one to blame for it but himself. 

He’d taken those assholes and making them a crew, a family, and what did he expect to happen after all that? 

Of course they were going to fight tooth and nail to protect each other. Of course they were going to take the stupidest risks if it meant keeping one another alive. Of course they’d think it was fine if they got hurt in the process, got themselves killed if that’s what it took.

And Ryan, the asshole. He went _hmm_ and cocked his head just so. 

_“Ask me again,”_ he’d said, and it was like a challenge when he said it. 

A fucking dare.

Geoff’s not so stupid he takes every one head-on when they come his way, but some?

Well.

Some you don’t have any choice about.

========

Soulmarks aren’t what they used to be.

Blasphemy to say that in the presence of certain people these days, but it’s the truth.

A generation or two ago and it was all anyone talked about. Ceremonies and rituals built around soulmarks, how important they were.

A milestone in your life the day yours formed, when you finally met that someone you were meant to spend the rest of your life with.

For some it was worth it, made their lives better in every way. Others weren’t as luck and everyone, everyone was out there chasing their happiness and forgetting to make their own.

Led to people bucking tradition, learning to build their lives around their goals and accomplishments rather than whatever force was behind soulmarks. 

Fate? Destiny? Who the hell knows.

Geoff’s one of those people.

Watched one too many people he loved, respected, throwing everything away the moment they found their soulmark. 

Got his first tattoo when he was too young, stupid, to know better, or so he was told, but he knew.

He fucking well knew.

Not the cleanest piece or the prettiest, but he’s never had it redone. Never covered it up with something new.

No.

He built around it, added to it.

Shitty. Pretentious of him, maybe, but it has more meaning to him than any other tattoo he’s gotten since.

And then, just because the universe loves to fuck with him, his soulmark comes in.

No clue when it happened or why, but there it is.

Nestled between two of his tattoos on his forearm like it was meant to be there. Like he went out and got another tattoo to fill in the blank space, natural as anything.

Catches him off guard when he sees it, because what asshole did this to him now of all times?

Wrangling a bunch of assholes in one of the most dangerous cities in the country, if not the world, and some asshole of a soulmate to deal with on top of all that.

Fucking _great_.

========

Geoff could, should, be more interested in figuring out who the hell did this to him, but, well.

He’s got bigger problems.

Doesn’t stop him from bitching about it, though.

“Sounds like a nightmare,” Ryan says, and the asshole’s laughing at him.

Stupid mask abandoned on the kitchen counter and no face paint because he’s lazy about it most days. Doesn’t bother so much with it anymore when the crew’s not out to cause a little trouble, have a little fun.

“Shut the fuck up,” Geoff grumbles, drowning his sorrows with a glass of diet soda while they watch the news. 

Live broadcast of the others cruise down main street in party bus they got from...who the hell knows, really.

Alfredo’s bringing up the rear in a goddamned tank, though, so they should be okay. Probably won’t need B-Team to bail them out. 

Ryan’s still laughing. 

Dorky, croaky thing that Geoff loves because only people Ryan trusts get to hear it.

Los Santos and the world get the Vagabond’s honestly terrifying laughter, dark and menacing and straight out of a movie.

The crew?

They get this. 

Stupid and lame and amazing.

“Okay,” Ryan says, and keeps on laughing at Geoff’s soulmark woes like the asshole he is.

========

“You stupid asshole,” Geoff sighs, because Ryan is a mess.

Bloodied up and grinning about it as he strips out of shirt to let Geoff deal with the gash on his back.  
Glancing blow from the lunatic with a sword – an actual sword – who’d clashed with Ryan.

Made the last mistake of his life, sure, but Ryan hadn’t gotten out of unscathed and now - 

Hell, Geoff doesn’t even know.

The crew’s scattered across several safehouses and reported in with minor injuries, which is always a relief. 

They’ve got orders from B-Team to keep their heads down until it’s safe, which isn’t the problem.

No, the problem is that Geoff’s stuck in a safehouse with Ryan, who as usual is a goddamned menace.

Smirking at him when Geoff breaks out the medical kit and turns around and - 

Geoff knows what it feels like to have the wind knocked out of you, has extensive experience with that because he’s not the smartest guy out there. Mouthy asshole, and more than a few people who take exception to that, and just.

He knows what it feels like.

This – seeing the goddamned back piece on Ryan is something else.

Riot of colors stretching from shoulder blade to shoulder blade and coiling down just above his hips. Intricate as hell and gorgeous, makes Geoff want to touch in ways he shouldn’t. (Something that’s not new, but Geoff usually has better control over it.)

The thing – the problem – is that it’s new.

Geoff’s seen Ryan shirtless before for all kinds of reasons.

The Lads and their prank wars. 

Jack and his pleasant little smile and some almost forgotten argument between him and Ryan and the fact you never, ever want Jack as an enemy. 

Shits and giggles, because Ryan.

Times like this.

Geoff’s seen Ryan shirtless before for all kinds of reasons and aside from a handful of scars his back was a blank canvas. 

As far as Geoff knows Ryan’s never shown an interest in getting a tattoo of his own. Even when the Lads have been drinking and one of them proposes getting one to commemorate one of the teams they come up with or something else along those lines.

Laughs and shakes his head, says it’s not for him and goes along to make sure they make it back home when they’re done.

And it’s - 

Maybe it’s a holdover from the way tattoos used to be taboo, considered obscene in a world where people held soulmarks as sacred.

Looked at people like Geoff as the lowest of the low, all that ink on his skin and not a shred of remorse for profaning something so revered.

Geoff’s staring, because the damn thing - 

Fuck.

The damn thing is stunning, gorgeous, and there’s a piece missing.

Right in the heart of the design, this perfect little space to match Geoff’s soulmark like a puzzle piece.

It makes Geoff a little angry, to be honest, because it’s the most heavy-handed bullshit he’s ever seen.

Fucking infuriating, and it makes all the sense in the world that Ryan’s involved because he’s always been a problem.

Pain in Geoff’s ass to recruit. Asshole who goes from being bullied by the others to being a scientific observer as he winds them up and then sets them loose. (On Los Santos if Geoff’s lucky, if not the penthouse gets another renovation.)

This _asshole_ who’s always loves watching the crew’s chaos unfold, standing there with his tattered shirt in hand and this look of concern on his face.

“Geoff?”

Wait.

No.

Not concern, or to be accurate, not just concern.

There’s - 

Geoff’s rarely seen Ryan afraid, and when he has, it’s always something to do with the others. Idiots and assholes who can be so goddamned reckless about their own safety when one of them is in trouble it terrifies Geoff.

He’s...he’s afraid now, watching Geoff. Eyes darting to Geoff’s arm and his soulmark like he knows exactly where it is, what it is.

Hidden in plain sight and all that, and he _knows_.

“ _You stupid asshole_ ,” Geoff says, all that annoyance, anger at Ryan for being stupid and reckless and heartbreakingly brave protecting the others shifting focus, because he did this to Geoff.

Fucked with his heart, what was left to it after the life he’s lived and salvaged what he could of it. Enough to pull a soulmark out of those dregs, indelible proof that there, right there, that’s Geoff’s asshole for the rest of his life, God help him.

That asshole watching him like he thinks Geoff’s about to do who the hell knows what. 

Ryan holds still as Geoff walks around him to look at Ryan’s soulmark, something so big and beautiful it hurts to look at.

This asshole who wears a mask to protect his identity, hid from all of them for the longest goddamned time and this – something like _this_ \- for a soulmark.

“Goddammit, Ryan,” Geoff says, helpless little sigh that ends on something like a laugh. “Why the hell are you like this?”

Ryan doesn’t answer, just shifts uncomfortably. Nervously. Blood oozing sluggishly from the gash on his back, and Geoff sighs again because - 

Just because.

“Get over here, idiot,” he says, and goes over to the couch. Waits for Ryan to join him, looking skittish as hell as he does, and sets about dealing with Ryan’s injury.

Ryan doesn’t say a damn thing.

Flinches when Geoff cleans the gash, lays a hand on his shoulder to steady himself, but doesn’t say a damn thing.

“You know,” Geoff says, not a damn clue about what to do now, but knowing he has to do something. “This is bullshit.”

Ryan doesn’t say anything, but Geoff’s learned some of his tells over the years. Catches that hitch of breath under his palm as Ryan reacts to his words.

“I mean,” Geoff is floundering. “This is college-level bullshit.”

There are classes on it, the study of soulmarks and the countless ways they affect society, the psychology of it and other things Geoff can’t be bothered to name.

Ryan stays silent. 

Lets Geoff ramble on, vent, whatever it is he’s doing.

Doesn’t make a sound as Geoff takes care of the gash, stitches up the worst of it and places s bandage over it.

Stays like that as Geoff gets to his feet, rests a hand on his shoulder as he moves past to pick up the clean shirt Ryan took from a closet.

Doesn’t look up until Geoff’s standing in front of him again, and -

“You’re an asshole,” Geoff says, all that anger from before long gone. 

Replaced by all the usual things he feels for Ryan.

Annoyance, because this is Ryan, but tinged with things like fondness and affection until it’s more like exasperation. (Because this is Ryan, and he’s just like that.)

“Yeah,” Ryan says, croaks, eyes searching Geoff’s face. “I know. You keep telling me.”

To be fair, Geoff tells all of them that.

Ryan, though.

Ryan’s a special kind of asshole. (Geoff’s.)

“I do, don’t I,” Geoff muses, handing Ryan the shirt.

Watches him pull it on, quiet hiss of pain as it agitates the wound on his back, but he just pushes past like he always does.

And Geoff.

Geoff sighs, reaches out to brush the hair that’s come loose from Ryan’s usual ponytail out of his eyes. 

Doesn’t usually do things like that, because it's not his place, but this – tonight – things are different.

Could stay that way, be something more.

Ryan reaches out, fingers wrapping around Geoff’s wrist to turn his arm over so he can look at that damned soulmark of his.

Traces the outline with his fingers, corner of his mouth ticking down because along with being an asshole Ryan’s also an idiot.

Stupid as hell about all the wrong things.

Geoff’s got his issues when it comes to soulmarks, all the bullshit people get up in arms when it comes to them. How important they are, like everything else you’ve done in your life doesn’t mean a goddamned thing in comparison.

He knows it works out for a lot of people, that they get their happy lives and ever afters. He knows it ruins others. Takes them and twists them until they’re unrecognizable.

Doesn’t know what will happen to the two of them now, but he knows Ryan.

Complete asshole, and stupid about it. 

Pain in Geoff’s ass and a problem from the start, so this is really no different, is it?

“I’m blaming you if this blows up in our faces,” Geoff says, even though he knows (hopes) it won’t. 

Ryan frowns up at him, because he’s a step behind still. Confused as hell because Geoff’s not reacting the way he expected or something else, and Geoff’s a little appalled at himself because he thinks it’s _endearing_.

“Geoff?”

And, look.

If he’s being honest with himself, Geoff’s been gone on Ryan for a long damn time. 

Years. 

Long enough that Jack hangs up on him the times Geoff calls him in the middle of the night to bitch about it, Ryan, and whatever dumb stunt he pulled that day. 

Geoff sighs, because he, too, is a stupid asshole, and then he kisses Ryan.

Awkward as hell, because Ryan being a step behind and also dumb? 

But not the worst one Geoff’s ever had. (Especially when Ryan stops thinking and feels, and then – well. It gets better.)

“Uh,” Ryan says, when Geoff pulls back, cheeks burning under Geoff’s hands. Eyes meeting his for a split-second before they dart away again. “What – Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

God, he’s so stupid.

All this want in his voice he thinks Geoff can’t hear, like it’s not the same for Geoff.

“Shits and giggles,” Geoff says with a smirk.

Something Ryan’s said to him too many times in the past because he’s an asshole.

Ryan’s eyes snap back to him, and Geoff holds on before the idiot can pull back, withdraw. 

Think it – this – is a joke and nothing more.

“Is that so?” he asks, eyes searching his, and Geoff lets him see everything.

Smiles when Ryan finally, finally gets it. 

“Of course,” Geoff says, and kisses him again, because what other reason could there be?


End file.
